Acting President Mihai Ghimpu today held a news briefing on the occasion of Moldova's Independence Day, during which he conveyed a message to the citizens of the Republic of Moldova, the presidential press service has said.
The message said:
"I would like to tell to all the citizens, our compatriots that there is nothing more important for them than the independence of their country. One cannot be a happy citizen if one is not free. Everything that is beautiful and good is related to independence. Freedom exists if independence of the state exists. Happiness exists, if freedom exists.
The citizens of the Republic of Moldova still did not manage to feel this independence which ultimately leads to welfare and decent living. The hard days that we are passing through are the consequence of the fact that we were not free, we were subdued, we were forced to live not according to our laws, but according to the ones of others, to the Soviet, totalitarian and communist laws.
I am sure that the day when we will feel this freedom is getting closer, as it is linked to the independence of our state and every citizen, starting from children to their parents and our grandparents, will feel what it means to live in an independent, free and democratic state.
I want to thank all those who fought, if I can say so, nights and years long so that the deputies of the first democratic parliament are able to vote the Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Moldova on 27 August 1991. The declaration came to tear apart this land that suffered so much from the Soviet imperial state which stole our freedom for 50 years.
We shall not forget that the declaration was passed after the Great National Assembly. This means that the citizens were the first ones to advocate this declaration on the Great National Assembly Square and to elect the deputies of the first parliament.
Regretfully, not all those who were elected voted for independence, because there were many voices speaking for keeping Moldova within the Soviet Union. But time showed that the will of most Moldovan citizens was fulfilled and today we are an independent state.
I thank all the citizens who have always been and are in favour of the consolidation of this state, which is paving its way towards a free and European state.
I wish all Moldovan citizens to feel dignity and pride for the fact that they live in an independent state and that we jointly build a European path towards our happiness and the happiness of our children, first of all.
I wish you good health, happiness and patience because not everything is the way we want it to be yet. But if we stay united, if we understand that everything depends on us, we will manage to erect this state the way we wanted it to be in the first years of fight for our freedom and independence. Good health to those who reside here either as ambassadors or as employees of embassies and to all those who are today on the Moldovan land.
And last but not least, I want to thank you, dear journalists, for having permanently promoting people's will. No people can become free or independent if it does not have such people as you, free press, and people who convey to God the wish of those who live down here, in order to become free and live a decent life.
God help us to step up our statehood within the European family."